SecondMarket Lays Off 10 Percent in Light of Facebook IPO

SecondMarket, the marketplace for private company shares that built much of its business on pre-IPO interest in Facebook equity, laid off 10 percent of its staff today. Prior to the layoffs, the New York City-based company employed approximately 150 people.

A SecondMarket spokesperson said, “In a post-Facebook market world, we have decided to eliminate some positions that are no longer core to our company’s long-term mission. We reduced our headcount by approximately 10 percent today, but will continue to hire in select areas. We have no additional planned layoffs and look forward to ramping up our headcount in the future.”

A source familiar with SecondMarket said its final auction for private shares of Facebook will end on Tuesday.

On the bright side, SecondMarket likely stands to benefit from the higher private company shareholder limits set forth in the JOBS Act, which Congress approved this week and President Barack Obama is expected to sign into law next week. The new limit would be 2,000 shareholders before a company falls under SEC reporting obligations, up from the infamous limit of 500 today.

Just as the atom bomb was the weapon that was supposed to render war obsolete, the Internet seems like capitalism’s ultimate feat of self-destructive genius, an economic doomsday device rendering it impossible for anyone to ever make a profit off anything again. It’s especially hopeless for those whose work is easily digitized and accessed free of charge.

— Author Tim Kreider on not getting paid for one’s work

AllThingsD by Writer

AllThingsD.com is a Web site devoted to news, analysis and opinion on technology, the Internet and media. But it is different from other sites in this space. It is a fusion of different media styles, different topics, different formats and different sources. Read more »